Aircraft Action Report #2 for 12 June 1944 (pg 1 of 5)

AOM3c James Coumatos was in the second group of aircraft to attack Orote Airfield the morning of June 12th. He was crewed with pilot Ltjg LeRoy Kalousek and radioman ARM3c Carl Motteler. This was VT-1's first taste of combat and certainly Petty Officer Coumatos would have been quite nervous and apprehensive. To add to that, just before they took off they likely heard the radio transmission from the first strike group stating that Lt Merrell's plane was hit and went down.

VT-1 would encounter intense antiaircraft fire that day. According to radioman Horace Harris "…didn't see how it was humanly possible for a plane to go through the barrage without being hit. I said my most fervent prayers right. It worked - we came through without a scratch, while nearly every plane in the formation was hit."

James Coumatos (1924)